


“Red String of Fate” (YumiHisu)

by moricat



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, Minor Armin Arlert/Eren Yeager, Red String of Fate, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 02:59:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9949112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moricat/pseuds/moricat
Summary: In a world in which one can find their soul mate through a red string of fate, Christa Lens confronts hers for the identity of her soulmate...A short YumiHisu drabble (goes along with the same AU I made forthis short eremin drabble)Cuz I really wanted to get to know these girls better<3 I apologize up front if I get anyone out of character here, I don’t know Ymir and Historia as well as I know Eren and Armin but I did my best and I still think it turned out cute so here is this blurb, enjoy if you can^^<333





	

In this world, everyone is well aware of one phenomenon which is simply a coming-of-age right of passage: the red string of fate that leads to one’s soul mate. When one closes their eyes, the glowing red string appears against the black matte of nothingness. Titan paths might still be a mystery to these Eldian children yet, but at least one metaphysical, extradimensional path is common knowledge among the humans in this world and is as mundane as a sneeze or a sunrise...

" _THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!_ I thought my heart was gonna burst right out of my chest! It was really terrifying by this point!" Hannah exclaimed, enthralling the various soldier girls in training at her lunch table, though more than loudly enough to disturb the neighboring tables too...

Ymir listened on with a sardonic look on her face, pursing her lips in amusement for what she deemed a hopeless little sap's story.

"So I finally stopped where the string ended, burst open my eyes, and THERE HE WAS!!!! FRANZ KEFKA!!! My soulmate, right there in front of me, with his eyes closed, and his cheeks blushing, like a cute little lamb!!! And he said _'Are you my soulmate?'_ in the most precious little voice, I thought I was going to die! And I screamed _'It's me, Hannah!'_ and we embraced, and live happily ever after, the end!"

The miscellaneous girls at the table unanimously swooned, with even Mikasa letting out a shy, hidden sigh in Eren's direction at the thought of meeting her soul mate like that... 

'Christa' normally would've ' _aw'_ d the loudest, but just felt too conflicted, in all honesty...

Mina, on the other hand, felt empowered and inspired. "What a story! Can you imagine opening your eyes to find a handsome guy like _Franz_ standing right there in front of you, waiting for you to embrace him?! Talk about a dream come true! Eh, Christa?"

The angelic blonde girl's eyes widened and with a hard swallow, she finally found her voice and character again. "I-it is a lovely thought..."

"Well, I rather don't care what some red string says. I wouldn't mate with _anyone_  who doesn't know how to serve up perfectly saturated pork ribs." Sasha interrupted before taking a ravenous bite of her dry bread.

"You never know, Sasha!" Hannah replied. "I never dreamed Franz would be the one for me and yet there he was! And here I am happier than I've ever been!"

"Pfft-- low standards, much..." Ymir snarked, receiving an annoyed growl from Christa under her breath.

Too giddy to mind Ymir’s rudeness today, Hannah ventured on. "Well, who _would_ you want then, Sasha?"

"The cook's son. He knows how to make perfectly steamed bratwurst. Nothing could be better than a man with a butcher's apron!" She proclaimed sweetly with a hearty swallow. "Hey, what about you, Christa?"

"U-uhm-- I don't know..." she blushed, and quickly dodged the question. "What about you, Mikasa?"

Now Mikasa was blushing.

"Oh, please." Mina interrupted. "We all know who she wants, but who do _you_ want? You're easily the most desired girl in the whole unit! Which lucky guy do you have your eyes on for being at the end of your string?"

"Umm... I don't know, really, I think everyone here is really nice! I guess if I had to choose, ummm..."

She looked up and received a meek glare from Mikasa to choose literally anybody but Eren and finally settled on... "R-Reiner? He's easily the most reliable and sweet, and I'd say we have a lot in common."

"PAHAH--" Ymir chortled. "AHAH-- You definitely have a lot in common, babe!"

"B-but I trust omniscient fate to leave me the right person at the end of my string! S-so I'll be happy with whoever I get. What about you, Ymir?"

"Nah, I don't care who's at the end of my string, I already know who I want." The freckled girl purred as she drew the little crystal eyed girl into her arm.

Mikasa let out an annoyed hum at Ymir's gross disposition, prompting eyerolls from Annie... Meanwhile, Franz finally walked in with a big bouquet of flowers for Hannah.

"Franz!!!"

"Ah, mein schatz!!!" the tall man cried and ran to hug his girlfriend to the exaggerated sound of Eren gagging from his own table. "Were you telling everyone how we met? I told all the guys this morning during our uniform drills!" he said, with his voice suddenly dropping into a mumble. "They were all quite jealous, honestly."

"Oh, I hope they all find someone who makes them as happy as we are!"

Annie had heard more than enough and took herself back outside to the training grounds while their mushy storytelling continued, not catching Bertholdt's ever watchful eyes on her. 

"You know, I think I actually knew right from the start I wanted to be with you..." Franz continued, prompting a fearful thought from Christa, who was still smooshed in Ymir's musky arms. "I couldn't explain it, maybe it was the way you said 'good morning' to me like I was your childhood friend instead of just a shy soldier you hadn't even met yet, but right away I felt in my heart that I wanted to hold you tight."

"Ohhhh, Franzzzz!" Hannah swooned, (not even noticing Sasha steal the bread from her tray). The pair began to kiss shamelessly, to the sound of Mina's _'aw'_ ing, Eren's gagging, and Ymir's scoffing.

"Tch. Straight people." The freckled masculine girl then took a swig of her water, while her little blonde crush stared off into space...

* * *

Being all alone in the woods was the only and closest way Christa could ever come to just being herself... To the sounds of the birds chirping in the blue sky above her while she rested on a log, she did her best to think straight with all her suffocating filters clouding her mind... What to do?

She slumped to the ground and sprawled out with her back over the log, staring with empty eyes at the clouds above. She was actually not interested in a single boy she'd ever crossed paths with... It didn't matter how handsome or how sweet or desirable he was; she just very simply was not interested in the slightest. This was about all she knew thus far, rather afraid to question herself any further lest she stumble upon something forbidden to nice girls like the good and righteous Christa Lens... but all that talk of Hannah meeting Franz was making her sweat...

Franz knew from their first meeting that they should be together? How could something so complicated as finding a mate for life be so simple? Christa couldn't even stomach coming into contact with half the men in their camp. And yet Franz knew where his heartstring would lead him just after saying hi to her! And what made that so scary to her, was that, of all people, she felt something very similar when she first met Ymir...

 _"Christa!"_ A golden voice chimed, breaking the silence of the forest as its master sprinted into the clearing where Christa had hidden.

She rose up to find a breathy Armin Arlert coming her way, and easily relaxed. "Hi, Armin. Do you need something?" She asked, sitting up in the "proper" and dainty way of a lady.

Armin stopped before the log, hunched over and gasping for breath while he gave her a big handful of decorated envelopes and papers. "Love letters... for you..."

Christa took them with a less saccharine smile than usual.

"Most of them are from Ymir and Reiner, as always, but the rest are from Dak, Samuel, Thomas..."

Christa's smile became rather somber... She wanted to just let the letters fall to the ground, but seeing as someone was watching her she set them neatly to the side.

"You must get so many that it's exhausting, huh?" Armin huffed with a smile, trying not to complain about how sick he was of being the designated messenger for the ‘Christa suitors club’ by every straight guy in the camp. "It's okay if you don't wanna read them. No one would blame you for growing weary of it."

"Hmm..." she sighed. And decided to confide a little in Armin, who was the only boy in the camp she _really_  trusted... "Armin? Do you like girls?"

"Ah-- I guess... Well, what do you mean?"

"Well, you're in love with Eren, right?--"

 ** _"SHHHHHHH!!!!!!"_** he seethed in a panic. Ymir and Christa had analyzed this truth out of him long ago, and though Armin felt like he could honestly trust them at this point, it was still something he treated with utmost urgency with them, even in this forest where he knew they couldn't be heard. Realizing he'd shushed the goddess of the 104th training unit, however, he blushed and tried to recollect himself. "S-sorry... I tend to only consider him when it comes to my potential soul mate but... Even so, I really don't have an interest in girls."

"Oh..." Christa's eyes darted to the side in thought.

"Why?"

Her glassy eyes looked back into his deep ones... "Armin, can I confide in you?"

"O-of course. That's only fair, heh."

"...When you look at girls, you feel nothing. But what do you feel when you look at boys?"

"I feel... intrigued? Amused? Fascinated? Not so much for anyone versus _him_  but... if I didn't know him then I'd say a pretty decent range of those feelings."

"I see... Sometimes... I-- feel that way about girls..."

Armin's eyes widened. "Oh..."

"Is that wrong?"

The male blond let out a gentle chuckle and took a seat on the log beside her. "No, not at all. It's okay if you like girls. I'm sorry they're not the ones sending you all these annoying love letters now."

"It's alright..." She gave him a truly genuine smile, and moved on to the next scary question on her mind. "Armin... How did you feel when you first met Eren?"

Armin's gaze wandered to the grass as a warm smile appeared over his lovelorn face for the nostalgia coming back to him. "I felt my like my heart would never stop beating. I found someone who understood me and gave me a reason to smile. I thought... it would be grand if I could be with him all the time... Why?"

She gulped. That was exactly how Ymir made her feel on the day they met... And just as Franz described meeting Hannah. She closed her eyes for a moment to see her red string's glow throbbing the more she thought about it. "...Do you know who your soul mate is?"

"No... I don't wanna know..."

"But what if it's Eren?"

"And what if it's _not_?..." He concluded with a tense smile in his lips creasing his nervous cheeks. "Do you know who yours is?"

"..."

"Understood. Well... Whoever it is, I guarantee you they'll adore you. You're far too wonderful to go unloved." he promised as he stood up. "So if you ever do decide to follow that red string, I just... hope it's someone _you_  can love right back... I'll see you later. I think Ymir wants to send you some flowers or something."

Christa feigned a smile and nodded. "Thanks, Armin. Bye."

Armin waved and strolled back out of the forest, leaving Christa there alone with her thoughts once more.

She closed her eyes to watch the red string glowing and dancing in its ethereal way, debating whether or not she should follow it and let destiny dictate how she lived her life...

* * *

The next day at lunch Christa strolled into the dining hall with a look of distress and took a deep breath... "Everyone?! I have an announcement!"

Seeing as Christa's sweet little voice was too low to be heard over the murmuring crowd, Ymir took a deep breath of her own and belted, **"OI, EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!! MY CHRISTA IS SPEAKING!!!"**

All the soldiers then turned their attention to the little blonde girl in the sunny doorway to hear what she had to say, minus Eren who simply continued eating with his back to her direction...

"Uh... You... You're all very sweet and dear but... you can all stop sending me love letters now! Last night, I followed my red string to my soul mate!"

Ymir perked up at that and listened on with widened eyes...

"...So from this day forth, I hereby swear myself to... Reiner Braun!"

 _"Haaaaa?"_ Reiner bellowed in surprise, a bright blush flushing over his cheeks.

Ymir couldn't speak... She sat frozen, unreadable, and never even minding the cadets staring at her...

Whilst Armin frowned sadly for Christa from his seat in front of him, Eren turned around, raising an angry eyebrow at the popular blonde...

* * *

"More tea, my sweet?" Reiner asked politely.

"Oh, yes please! This is so lovely. I'm quite lucky to have found you, Reiner." Christa beamed in her cloying way while Reiner poured her some more tea.

The pair sat together at the picnic table outside, just beside the main training grounds where students were chatting amongst themselves during the AP maneuvering exams taking place at the climbing grounds. But rather unsurprisingly, Ymir was nowhere to be found...

While Armin and Mikasa were discussing the exam, Eren glared at the blond couple sitting pretty at the table...

"It really is, and I'm sorry to cut lunch so short, but-- I hope you'll forgive me, this was such short notice, after all, and Bertholdt really needs my help with his AP exam..." the tall powerhouse of a man apologized.

Christa pretended she wasn't relieved. "Oh, I'm so sorry to see you go! But I hope the test goes well! Tell him I said good luck!"

"Sure thing! Have a good afternoon, my lady." and off to his buddy he went.

Christa let out a shaky breath, picking up her tea with jittery hands to take a nervous sip while she tried to ignore the empty ache inside her chest... She closed her eyes, not really minding her red string, though its glow had gone very dim in its ghostly dance... She didn't want to look up or at anyone... not even when she heard angry footsteps approaching her.

"Oi. You." the guttural voice vibrated through the air and into Christa's reluctant ears.

She opened her eyes to find Eren Yeager, blocking the sunlight as he towered over her with furrowed eyebrows and a frown. "Ah. Yes?"

"I don't know what you're trying to pull here with Reiner, but it looks to _me_  like you're just using him..."

"I-- What a cruel thing to accuse me of..." she whimpered, her big crystal eyes becoming glossy and wet by sheer flawless habit...

"Oh, don't even... You and I both know this is just for show. And I don't know what your deal is or why you'd wanna do this, but hurting someone as true as Reiner like this _would_  be a cruel thing to do." the raven haired boy scolded calmly. "So if nothing's keeping you from dating who you _actually_  want to date, I think you should get out of this and set things right."

She looked into those stone cold grey eyes with her own, concealing the storm in her heart for not knowing what to do at all... "Why would you think so little of me, Eren? Reiner _is_  my soul mate. This is what's meant to be. I like him a lot. I mean to make him very happy..."

"Cut the crap, would you? You and I both know you're into _Ymir!_  I don't know why the hell your string would send you to Reiner, or why you'd want to _lie_ about it, but it seems to me that there's a fluke in here somewhere. So do the decent thing and drop the fakery."

Christa's somber eyes looked desperately into his while her lips formed a slight, odd smile. "Eren, do you know I think you're very lucky?"

He raised a fuzzy eyebrow. "Hä?"

"You're free..."

His confused eyebrow furrowed. "Whatever that means... Free or not though, I wouldn't pretend to be something I'm not to hurt the people I care about. That's truly cruel, and not the way of a proper soldier."

Christa pursed her lips. "I'll be glad to see you open your eyes... I don't mean to hurt anyone. How long do _I_  have to hurt though?..."

Eren's face finally unscrunched and he sighed, taking a seat on the other side of the bench. "You shouldn't have to. Everyone has the right to be free. You know, romance is a waste of time, in my opinion. And I dunno what's hurting you when everyone seems to love you for whatever that get up of yours is, but if you wanna be happy, I'd start by being honest with yourself. And then with Ymir. Armin and I agree there: Honesty is the best place to start. Because truth is the key to freedom."

"Ironic that you say that..." She muttered wistfully, still with that odd smile. "Say. How do you feel about Armin?"

Eren froze and blushed. "What do you mean?"

"You two seem as close as Ymir and I are. Don't you like him? What's stopping _you?_ "

"--I don't have to take this." he grumbled, standing up from the bench with his face re-scrunched and now reddened. "Just fix this thing with Reiner and get right!"

Christa stared down at the table while Eren marched away and thought for a long time on what to do... Armin may have approved, and Eren may have approved, and Ymir clearly would've approved, but the _world_  had always told her that it was improper for a lady to be with another woman... ergo, the red string of all-chaste fate would never lead her to _Ymir_... Had she actually followed her string instead of lying about it, she was sure it would've lead to someone like Reiner anyway. But Eren was right. Whoever it _did_  lead to sure as hell wasn't gonna make her happy if it weren't Ymir... So what was she to do? She was stuck...

* * *

Christa broke up with Reiner by dinner time and wandered the campgrounds alone for the rest of the night... Reiner was heartbroken but Bertholdt was happy enough to let Reiner literally cry on his shoulder while he stared at Annie ignoring the gossip. Eren gave Christa a nod of approval and empathy, along with Armin... but even without the guilt, she still felt awful... And though Christa had been avoiding her anyway, according to Sasha, Ymir was apparently still nowhere to be found for the rest of the day...

The tiny blonde's glassy eyes welled up with genuine tears for the first time in many ages as she strolled in the starlight... Not that Christa herself was aware of that. Very little made sense to her anymore for how trapped in her identity she was, but when Ymir was around, frustrating as she might be, everything just felt... real. "Honesty..." echoed Eren's words in her mumbling mouth. "If only it were that simple for me... Nobody loves Historia..."

For one night only, Christa Lens decided to be Historia Reiss, if only to be honest with _herself_ for a few short moments… She took a seat on the log by the lonely camp fire, slouching and carelessly watching as her red string halted its motions and dimmed its glow to near nothingness behind her eyelids… Historia Reiss didn’t really care how she hurt Reiner. Reiner had been bothering her with endless love letters for far too long for that. Historia Reiss wished Armin would wise up and make himself useful instead of just tagging along with his suicidal crush to his death. Historia Reiss thought Eren was a complete idiot and that freedom to speak that he took for granted was fleeting with his moronic death wish. Historia Reiss thought men were about as interesting as the bowl of cabbage soup they served for lunch. Historia Reiss thought women were beautiful, endlessly intriguing creatures. Historia Reiss didn’t really care either way what happened in the war. Historia Reiss wanted to kill herself to be free of the world’s rejection and expectations of her. Historia Reiss thought Ymir was the most incredible person she’d ever met… with her beady eyes wide open to how the world worked and her fierce smirk endlessly mocking every single idiot she came across, and her voice shouting it openly. Ymir was alive inside and burning with a fire to live life. Historia envied that so...

"I guess there is simply no happiness for some people..." she mumbled in the fire's direction as she stared into it, hypnotized by the orange and yellow flames flickering into the smoky night air. "Ymir... Where are you?..."

**"Right here, min pus."**

The sudden sound of Ymir's croaky low voice shooting through the silence like a bolt of lightning sent Historia into the air as she jumped out of her seat on the log. She turned around, clutching at her heart, still as Historia Reiss and thus very honest. **_"YMIR, YOU SCARED ME TO DEATH!!!"_**

Ymir, to Historia's blushing surprise, had her eyes closed and a sparkly, albeit villainous, grin on her face. "I followed my red string all afternoon! And it lead me right to you! You tricky little kitten, you're not straight for Reiner! _Fate_ says you should be with _me_!" She raved happily, and made a motion with her arms as though she were dropping the rest of her string on the ground before opening them wide. "If you're done pretending to be gooey goddess of the whiny dicks in this camp, you can just walk right into these arms! Ready and waiting for ya, babe!"

Historia broke into a sweat, trying to find the right reaction amidst her conflicting feelings and remained silent...

"...Eh? What's the hold up? The all-powerful God or whatever you wanna believe in says you and I are meant to be, so what's keeping you there?"

"...You're a rude girl with a horrible personality, Ymir." came the blonde's monotonous response as she stared into Ymir's fierce beady eyes.

"...Uh huh?"

"You're incredibly overbearing and indescribably obnoxious."

"Got me there..."  the freckled girl replied, with her smile and arms relaxing a little.

"You’re careless, and mean, and self-serving, and invasive, and unkempt and you have the face of a classic hag."

"Wow... Pretty bold to be that honest when your soul mate is revealed of all times." Ymir's arms and smile drooped a little more while her face blushed... "So?"

"You're a painfully, painfully, honest woman to be around..."

"...So?"

Historia sighed... and let out a smile. _"I **love** you."_

"Eh?--" Before Ymir had a moment to think, Historia's arms were suddenly wrapped tightly around her neck while her soft pink lips kissed her rough rosewood ones... As Historia pulled away to look at her, now held close in Ymir's warm tawny arms, Ymir was almost speechless. "Y-- Don't-- you want to check your string to see if I'm really your soul mate?"

Historia grinned angelically, despite the sinfulness that Christa would project on this. Ymir was here and everything was clear again. Everything was real, honest, and true... Everything felt okay. And she was genuinely _happy_. It was only like this when Ymir was around, and Historia finally, _finally_ , decided she wanted to keep it that way. "Nope. I already know who I want to be with. So screw it all."

And suddenly Ymir was pulled down to Christa's lips again.

Though Historia decided not to look at her string, it always glowed and throbbed when Ymir was around and it glowed brightest when Ymir was happy. Whether she knew Ymir was her soulmate or not didn't matter in the slightest to her anymore. The rest of the world may have controlled Christa Lens, but Historia Reiss chose her own soulmate. And choosing to forge her own path into Ymir's arms was a choice Historia Reiss never ever regretted...

<3


End file.
